Chapter 7

“Ah, right, Student Sea! A few days later? Come on, strike while the iron is hot. You said you’re free anytime, right? Ah, not immediately? Hmm… then tomorrow! Come to the address on the business card tomorrow at around 2 p.m.!”

“…Ah, yes! Understood!”

I answered as cheerfully as I could, but I couldn’t keep the expression on my face from twisting.

Before I knew it, the audition date had been set.

And it was tomorrow.

Then that means…

I stared at the screen after the call ended and calculated the time remaining.

Damn it.

Even if I stayed up all night, I only had about twenty-four hours.

Preparing for an audition in twenty-four hours?

It felt like an interrogation disguised as an audition.

She didn’t seem like that kind of person.

Still, there was no time to complain.

The appointment had already been made.

I couldn’t spend too long choosing a song either.

To put on a proper performance in such a short time, my options were limited.

Yeah. That’s probably the only choice.

It was a bit disappointing because it was such a safe pick, but I didn’t have a choice.

After deciding, I immediately started preparing.

“Sea, dinner… Oh my, are you practicing dance?”

“…Please leave.”

I didn’t even have time to rent a practice room.

I spent the entire night practicing alone in my room.

The next afternoon, after finishing my preparations, I checked myself in the mirror one last time before leaving.

…Good.

If someone looked closely, they could probably tell I hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours.

But overall, I didn’t look bad.

I had put in contact lenses.

I’d gone to a salon early in the morning and gotten bangs cut.

I had even stopped by an underground shopping mall to buy neat clothes.

It’s only polite to dress properly for an interview.

Well, technically it wasn’t an interview.

It was an audition.

Still, becoming an idol wasn’t that different from getting a job.

…Anyway.

Time to go.

I took public transportation and headed to the address written on the business card.

But the moment I arrived, something felt strange.

According to the address, this should be the place.

The address definitely pointed to the shopping complex in front of me.

Yet none of the signs displayed the name Dream Entertainment.

Thinking I might have missed it, I went inside and carefully checked the directory.

Still nothing.

The name Dream Entertainment wasn’t there.

I couldn’t even find it through an internet search.

Wow.

I thought she was being modest when she said that.

Turns out it really doesn’t show up online.

To think I’d get lost in the middle of Seoul.

Looks like I’ll have to contact her again…

I pulled out my phone and started typing a message to Baek Hyun-jung.

Then—

“Excuse me.”

A small shadow appeared in front of me.

Black bobbed hair.

Sharp eyes without double eyelids.

She gave off a cold impression.

Though her short height made her seem less intimidating.

Still…

She looked familiar somehow.

As I stared at her face trying to remember, the girl spoke in an irritated tone.

“You’re Shin Sea, right? You look so different from what Team Leader described that I wasn’t sure.”

The moment she spoke, her voice sounded familiar too.

Ah.

I definitely knew who she was.

I narrowed my eyes and searched my memory.

Her name was…

“Park Da-won?”

“Ah.”

At my quiet murmur, Park Da-won’s cheeks turned slightly red.

“So you’ve seen Pick-Up Idol. That’s kind of embarrassing though. That was my TV persona.”

…Pick-Up Idol?

Oh.

Right.

There was a show like that.

She’d given me the perfect excuse.

I immediately smiled brightly and offered my hand.

“I really enjoyed watching Pick-Up Idol.”

“…Thank you.”

She awkwardly shook my hand before quickly letting go.

Then she turned around.

“Anyway, enough small talk. Just follow me. Team Leader told me to bring you.”

“Ah.”

Looks like Baek Hyun-jung had sent her.

I watched her back with newfound realization.

Right. This was before she debuted with Dream.

I knew Park Da-won because she would later become a member of Dream Entertainment’s girl group, Radiance.

But at this point in time, she wasn’t known as Radiance’s Park Da-won yet.

She was known as Park Da-won from Pick-Up Idol.

Pick-Up Idol

“Pick Your Idol.”

That was the slogan of K-Net’s idol survival program.

It was also the legendary show that inspired the urban legend about fans contacting their exes just to gather more votes for their favorite contestant.

Every season was filled with editing controversies and accusations of exploitation.

Yet nobody could deny its popularity.

No idol survival show that came afterward ever surpassed its ratings.

And Park Da-won was a contestant from Season 3, the final season.

The winner, in fact.

Or more accurately…

The person who should have been the winner.

Years later, though I couldn’t remember the exact date, a massive vote-rigging scandal erupted involving all of K-Net’s survival programs.

“How many shows did those lunatics rig?”

“Do they think playing with people’s lives is fun?”

I could still remember the angry comments I saw online.

The public had been furious.

Among all the programs involved, Pick-Up Idol received the most attention.

Partly because idol survival shows relied heavily on fandom voting.

But there was another reason.

The contestant who had actually ranked first had been pushed down to twelfth place.

“I KNEW Pick-Up Idol 3 was rigged.”

“I laughed because it was so ridiculous. Our fierce little cat was always in the debut range, had the biggest voting events, and suddenly ended up 12th? And now it turns out she was actually 1st?”

Comments: 999+

• I still remember those comment sections. Whenever someone questioned Park Da-won’s ranking, people attacked them and talked about her personality.

└ The fandom of the member who benefited from the manipulation reacted the hardest.

└ Even they probably knew something was wrong with their favorite’s ranking.

• After getting edited so unfairly and still taking first place… just who is Park Da-won?
• She must have been unable to sleep after finding out. The members who got boosted by the manipulation held concerts for tens of thousands of fans, while she was attending local sweet red bean bread festivals.

└ Nice attempt at pretending to sympathize while insulting her.

Naturally, many people were outraged.

Those involved were investigated and put on trial.

And after that?

That was the end of it.

A slap-on-the-wrist punishment.

Public interest faded with time.

People occasionally cursed about it online, but that was all.

It was only natural.

K-Net belonged to the massive K Corporation.

A giant company that practically controlled the Korean entertainment industry.

If you made an enemy of them, who knew what disadvantages you’d face later?

So most people simply stayed quiet.

A bitter outcome.

But that was reality.

“Excuse me?”

“…Ah, yes?”

Lost in thought, I hadn’t heard her calling me.

When I looked up again, Fierce Little Cat—

What am I even saying?

No, Park Da-won was staring at me with a slight frown.

“Pay attention. These stairs are steep. If you step wrong, you’ll get hurt.”

“Ah, yes. Sorry.”

At some point, we’d descended a staircase and entered a dark underground hallway where no sunlight reached.

The fluorescent lights were on.

But it still felt gloomy.

So this is Dream Entertainment’s building.

Calling it a building felt generous.

It was incredibly run-down.

Though small companies often rented basement offices to save money, so it wasn’t that surprising.

Dream was still a very small company right now.

They needed to save every penny.

And honestly, that wasn’t the important thing.

…Why does she keep glaring at me?

The real problem was Park Da-won constantly shooting me unfriendly looks.

To be fair, I’d already sensed it from the moment we met.

From her tone.

From her behavior.

Park Da-won didn’t like me.

The problem was that I had absolutely no idea why.

I hadn’t done anything wrong.

We’d barely met.

If I passed this audition, we’d probably debut together.

I’d rather not start off on bad terms.

But if she kept provoking me first…

Even I was starting to get annoyed.

…Hmm.

For now, I decided to pretend I hadn’t noticed.

Maybe it was just my imagination.

“Unnie, I heard you’re really good at singing?”

“Me?”

“Team Leader keeps praising you nonstop. She says you’re amazing. Do you think you’re really that good?”

“…”

What exactly had Baek Hyun-jung been telling people?

I answered modestly.

“My singing still has a lot of flaws, but thankfully people seem to enjoy it.”

“…What? So you don’t even have confidence in your own singing? Then why are you here?”

“…”

Yeah.

Definitely not my imagination.

She really disliked me.

Or maybe she was trying to establish dominance because we had just met.

Honestly, I didn’t like either possibility.

Forget it.

I pretended not to hear.

Getting angry here would only make things troublesome.

Fortunately, after that comment, Park Da-won stopped talking.

We continued walking in silence.

Eventually, she stopped.

We were standing in front of a door labeled CEO Office.

…Wait.

Don’t tell me the audition is being held in the CEO’s office?

“You can go inside. The CEO and Team Leader should be waiting for you.”

So it really was.

Their operation was even more improvised than I expected.

Not a recording studio.

Not a practice room.

Straight to the CEO’s office.

It’s a small company. It’s a small company. This is normal.

I forced myself to accept reality and gave Park Da-won a small bow.

“Thank you for bringing me here.”

I still didn’t know why she disliked me.

But the audition came first.

Suppressing my dissatisfaction, I reached out to knock.

Then—

“…But let me say one last thing.”

Park Da-won grabbed my wrist.

…Why was she grabbing someone’s wrist without warning?

My face almost twisted in irritation.

I barely held it back.

But she wasn’t done.

“I’m not questioning Team Leader’s judgment, but honestly, I was shocked when I heard she found a new member.”

Her words carried obvious hostility.

“I don’t want any flaws in the team I’m going to debut with.”

“…”

“If you’re not confident, you should just leave now. Don’t waste the CEO’s time.”

Right.

I had expected this kind of power struggle the moment I stepped back into the entertainment industry.

But expecting it didn’t make it feel any less unpleasant.

Should I just blow everything up?

…No.

That would only hurt me.

So what should I do?

Pretend I didn’t hear it and walk inside?

…Seriously.

I laughed quietly to myself.

That wasn’t really an option.

Honestly, I couldn’t do that.

Bowing my head to another trainee would hurt my pride too much.

I looked up at Park Da-won.

Her fierce eyes met mine directly, refusing to back down.

…Hm?

Then I noticed it.

Her pupils were trembling slightly.

I knew that look.

It was the look of someone afraid of something.

Wait.

She was the one picking a fight.

Why was she the one who looked scared?

…Ah.

In that instant, several memories flashed through my mind.

And suddenly, I understood.

“By the way.”

Park Da-won stiffened.

I finally understood why she was acting this way.

And I knew exactly how to respond.

“Park Da-won.”

I smiled slightly.

“I think you’re actually pretty amazing.”

— End of Chapter 7 —